Janet Daley was born in America where she began her political life on the Left as an undergraduate at Berkeley. She moved to Britain (and to the Right) in 1965 where she spent nearly twenty years in academic life before becoming a political commentator: all factors that inform her writing on British and American policy and politicians.

George Osborne courts the press – to great effect

Followers of politics who live outside the Westminster village may have noticed a peculiar phenomenon during the past tumultuous week. Even as David Cameron was having a stupendous success on the world stage, and in Parliament where he graciously received praise even from the Opposition for his decisive success at the UN, an emormous amount of glowing press coverage was being awarded to – George Osborne.

Now it is certainly the case that the Chancellor was deeply involved in, and committed to, the stance that the Prime Minister took. It is widely believed, in fact, that the tough position that Mr Cameron adopted owed more to the Osborne view than to that of William Hague whose brief this should have been. But nonetheless is there not something rather odd about this flood of praise and adoration for Mr Osborne coming most notably from Right-of-centre commentators at precisely the moment when Mr Cameron has had a stunning triumph and – by all rights – ought to be the star of the show.

Perhaps I can shed some light here. Mr Osborne has taken to cultivating his friends and allies in the press in a big way. He talks regularly to favoured pundits and political editors, making himself available for a constant dialogue on his thoughts, intentions and plans. And Mr Cameron does not. He remains grandly beyond reach.

I am certainly not – heaven forfend – attempting to put any sinister interpretation on this. Mr Osborne should not be criticised for doing the politically astute thing. And since the PM and the Chancellor work very closely together they may well have come to a joint decision to hand this role of communicating with the press over to Mr Osborne.

Then again, maybe they haven't. In which case, there is trouble ahead. There are some serious differences of opinion between them. Mr Cameron, for example, favours recognition of marriage and specific help for families in the tax and benefit system – as does Iain Duncan Smith whose welfare reforms are the most popular aspect of the Government's programme – but Mr Osborne does not. When it comes to the public debate about this – or anything else on which the two disagree – who is likely to get the more favourable media coverage? However happy and congenial their relationship may be now, there is always potential friction and competition for influence between a prime minister and a chancellor. Sooner or later, Mr Cameron is going to need some friends in the opinion-forming classes.